Disc 1 of this album, Flotsam, can be streamed here
This isn't exactly the new album from Andy Murkin. The tracks on Flotsam, Disc 1, are all pieces recorded during the making of From Aardvark to Zebra, Goodbye Finisterre and Devil's Island Discs, but which never made it onto those albums, due to lack of space, the need for continuity, that sort of thing. The two tracks on Jetsam, Disc 2, recorded at the same time as Devil's Island Discs are 'live' versions of two studio tracks from this era. As Devil's Island was already a double abum, it would have been altogether too much to include these on the album as well.
Flotsam
From A to Z (Vocal version) [6.09]
The first two and three-quarter minutes of
this track is more or less the only previously heard (although slightly remixed)
material on this album. The vocal additions by the Vocalettes weren't completed
in time, so the original, non-vocal track opens the album From Aardvark to Zebra.
The lyrics make more explicit the nature of this piece as a tribute to the
incomparable Frank Zappa, in which, you may recall, 'A' is for 'Andy' and 'Z' is
for 'Zappa', except in the final 'From Z to A' vocal section, where 'A' means
'all of us'.
90 Years [1.42]
This piece of 'sonic poetry' was originally the ending to I'm
Growing Some Bonsai Trees on From Aardvark to Zebra, and is drawn from the same
spoken source material. Bonsai Trees seemed long enough, though,
in the end. so this track has remained from then until now only as an internet
download.
Islington (Vocal version) [0.58]
The Vocalettes' rendition of one of the
instrumental sections of the track from Aardvark, where the melodies of the vocal
phrases are based on the pitches of the spoken voice.
Another Egress Introduction [0.36]/Another Egress [13.05]
Another Egress started
life during the making of 2003's Goodbye Finisterre. The title is an anagram of
one of the tracks on that album, There Are Songs. The theme, though, is from
another Finisterre track: the 'Rockall South' section of The Shipping Forecast.
Later, it acquired a guitar solo, which is the full version of the solo in the
fade out of Expressly Denied from Devil's Island Discs. The Introduction
features the voices of Bruce and Victoria, two crucial members of the team, along
with the Vocalettes (featured on Egress itself), who contribute to the making of
an Andy Murkin album.
3 Pizzas, Lee (Piano version) [1.05]
There were already three versions of this
tune on Devil's Island Discs, which I considered an appropriate number, so this
one, scored for 2 pianos, appears here for the first time.
Jazz Club Incident [3.32]
More music from an imaginary spy film. All good spy
films, where possible, have a scene where the hero is tailed and followed into a
bar - or, in this case, cellar jazz club - by a couple of heavies under
instruction to eliminate him. Inevitably, they underestimate his skills in
unarmed combat, and end up on the receiving end of a severe pasting, leaving our
hero, only slightly ruffled and out of breath, to make good his escape. This is
the soundtrack to that scene.
Yaman Kalyana [12.37]
I had to choose either this track or Samanta for inclusion
on Devil's Island Discs. Despite preferring this one to play, I chose Samanta
because of its greater variety. Like Samanta, it gets its name from the raga,
which the melody and guitar improvisation follow.
Midnight in the Forest [2.31]
This piece was recorded at the same time as A Night
in the Forest and Dawn Chorus on Devil's Island Discs, and adds solo flute to
slowed-down recordings of birdsong. It belongs in between these two tracks, but
I felt there would be too much birdsong and too few tunes in this part of the
album, so it got left off.
A Small Patch of Blue Sky [1.58]
A short, accordion-based version of Blue Sky
from Devil's Island. It was recorded at the same time, but there was no space
for it when the final tracklist was drawn up.
Jazz Club Live [14.10]
This sequence (which, confusingly, is nothing to do with
the earlier track called Jazz Club Incident . . .) comprises funky electric jazz
interpretations of three earlier tunes: P.I.G., which is - apart, of course, from
a tribute to the Flying Pig - a version of Perpendicular Ideal of the Glasshouse
from Goodbye Finisterre; Sammy, an arrangement of Samanta from Devil's Island
Discs; and N1NE1?, otherwise known as Islington from From Aardvark to Zebra.
Jetsam
The spirit of 1972 is fulsomely evoked in 45 minutes of laid-back progressive rock, as the group meander through live versions of just two of their greatest hits, complete with symphony orchestra and choir. The two numbers selected for this treatment are Freefall [22.29] from Devil's Island and From A to Z [22.31] from Aardvark.
Return to andymurkin dotcom Home Page